Adam Wilcox allowed 2 goals on 27 shots for the victory. Zettler continues to ride the hot hand after Wilcox has gone 4-0-1 in his last 5 starts. He's got a sporty .934 save percentage thus far in his four starts in March.

Coming off a recent slide, the Crunch turned to the rookie netminder to take over between the pipes. With a chance to show what he can do, Wilcox has registered 117 saves and backstopped Syracuse to seven out of eight points in the last four games.

Wilcox hopes the consistent starts helps him find the groove that made him a standout at the University of Minnesota.

“I’m feeling really confident and I’m feeling really good, and now I feel like I can play well in this league on a nightly basis,” Wilcox said.

The 20-year-old forward returned to Syracuse Crunch practice on Tuesday, nearly two months after leaving the team on a game day in Toronto. After Drouin’s trade demand went public in January, he was assigned to the Crunch and played seven games before heading home to await a move.

Not dealt by the NHL trade deadline, Drouin just wants to get back to playing hockey.

“Obviously, I’m a hockey player and I wanted to play hockey,” Drouin said. “Sitting at home is not what I wanted to do. I wanted to play hockey with the Crunch. We’ll deal with that stuff when the summer comes.”

Syracuse outshot the Phantoms 48-30 in regulation, but it still took a Tye McGinn goal with just 30 seconds to go in the Third Period just for the Crunch to salvage a point from the game. The final shot advantage was 53-31 on a frustrating night where the Crunch probably deserved better.

The Crunch registered 53 shots on goal and controlled the play for long stretches, but needed a goal with the extra attacker on in the final minute of regulation to send the game to overtime. Led by Phantoms goalie Anthony Stolarz, Lehigh Valley prevailed over Syracuse in a shootout, 3-2, at the Onondaga County War Memorial Wednesday.

“I wish we would have gotten the two points tonight. We sorely need them,” Crunch head coach Rob Zettler said. “I’m happy with our guys’ effort. The process was good, the details were good, but the outcome was not what we wanted.”

One day shy of five weeks on the shelf with an upper body injury, the Syracuse Crunch forward was counting the days until he could return. The 22-year-old scored on his first shift and finished with two points in a 3-2 win over Binghamton Friday, and added the game-winner in the shootout in a 5-4 victory over the Senators Sunday during a three-game weekend.

Peca made an immediate impact with his return and now he’s hoping to be a regular contributor as the Crunch make a push for the playoffs.

"I was just excited," Peca said of returning. "I felt in shape, I felt comfortable, and I knew my injury had healed so I was ready to get back. It didn't feel like I missed any time really."

A 3 goals deficit in pro hockey SHOULD be a death sentence. Syracuse improbably erased a 3 goal deficit after 40 minutes only to see ex-Lightning property Mike Kostka put Bingo ahead with under a minute to go. Not to be deterred, Tye McGinn tied the game with under 10 seconds to go before Matthew Peca eventually put it away in the Shootout. When you cough up a 3 goal lead like that, it's emotionally devastating. When you come back and win a game by erasing one, it can be emotionally galvanizing. We'll see if the Crunch get a bounce off of this win.

The Syracuse Crunch’s early lead lasted a little more than 10 minutes.

Crunch forward Adam Erne opened the scoring but the IceCaps rattled off five unanswered goals, as St. John’s skated to a 5-1 win over Syracuse at the Onondaga County War Memorial Saturday.

“In the first 10 minutes … there was a lot of O zone play, a lot of O zone time, and a lot of chances,” Crunch head coach Rob Zettler said. “Then — I don’t know — we faded. I don’t know if it was our energy. They were certainly executing better than we were and certainly more tenacious than we were.”